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Diamond released their top ten sales charts for January, kicking off the monthly debate over which company's marketing gimmicks are dragging the industry into the gutters. Of course, that debate seems pretty silly when comic sales are up 20% over last January, but that won't stop fanboys from declaring that DC'sNu52 reboot has run its course and the company needs to return to its old continuity.

The DC naysayers will point to Marvel's dominance in both the retail and unit sales, but it should be noted that top DC books like Justice League and Batman outperformed numerous high profile Marvel #1 issues, such as Savage Wolverine and New Avengers. While Superior Spider-Man #1 took the number one spot thanks to comic book readers' famous love of rapeyness, Justice League #16 and Batman #16 came in ahead of Superior Spider-Man #2, showing that those books have maintained a strong readership more than a year after their launch.

That's not to say that Marvel isn't doing well. They took seven of the top ten spots in comics along with their market share victories, capitalizing on the hype around their Marvel NOW! soft relaunch. Image Comics took five of the top ten graphic novel spots, thanks to Saga and The Walking Dead. DC's Fables took the top graphic novel spot, which bodes well for Vertigo.

Check out the stats below and make your own reasonable argument about why DC and Marvel are shedding readers and destroying the industry despite sales trending upward.

Diamond released their top ten sales charts for January, kicking off the monthly debate over which company's marketing gimmicks are dragging the industry into the gutters. Of course, that debate seems pretty silly when comic sales are up 20% over last January, but that won't stop fanboys from declaring that DC'sNu52 reboot has run its course and the company needs to return to its old continuity.

The DC naysayers will point to Marvel's dominance in both the retail and unit sales, but it should be noted that top DC books like Justice League and Batman outperformed numerous high profile Marvel #1 issues, such as Savage Wolverine and New Avengers. While Superior Spider-Man #1 took the number one spot thanks to comic book readers' famous love of rapeyness, Justice League #16 and Batman #16 came in ahead of Superior Spider-Man #2, showing that those books have maintained a strong readership more than a year after their launch.

That's not to say that Marvel isn't doing well. They took seven of the top ten spots in comics along with their market share victories, capitalizing on the hype around their Marvel NOW! soft relaunch. Image Comics took five of the top ten graphic novel spots, thanks to Saga and The Walking Dead. DC's Fables took the top graphic novel spot, which bodes well for Vertigo.

Check out the stats below and make your own reasonable argument about why DC and Marvel are shedding readers and destroying the industry despite sales trending upward.